MAY 11, 2009 -- ANDA Networks (search Lightwave for ANDA Networks), a provider of carrier-class fiber and copper-based access network platforms, has launched its new EtherProbe series products, which it says encompass the first standalone Ethernet traffic monitoring and service-level agreement (SLA) verification system fully contained within the customer network terminating equipment (NTE). ANDA says its new EtherProbe offerings provide carriers with new revenue-generating Carrier Ethernet 2.0 capabilities also reducing management opex and equipment capex.
Integrated hardware and software tools within the EtherProbe units reportedly eliminate the need for adjunct probes, remote test sets, and external data collection tools on either end of the transmission link. Service providers and enterprise end users can remotely monitor real-time network performance, detect degradation, and automatically switch to backup paths for their Ethernet-based WAN connections.
The EtherProbe integrated NTE offers intelligent end-to-end Ethernet demarcation with tracking and measurement of key performance metrics such as throughput, packet loss, jitter, delay, and delay variation. Measurements are obtained in-line and in real time with actual customer traffic flows without disrupting their service performance. Because such metrics are readily available and accurate on a real-time basis, carriers can easily implement and enforce relevant SLAs without having to disrupt customers' services to run performance tests as with typical RFC2544 measurements, notes the company.
"A key goal of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is the delivery of overall management and control plane capabilities, enabling service providers to rapidly order, provision, manage, and bill for their Ethernet services," says Stan Hubbard, senior analyst for Heavy Reading (search Lightwave for Heavy Reading). "EtherProbe offers service providers end-to-end network visibility without unnecessary network elements and restores to Ethernet networks the lost visibility and performance monitoring that carriers and large enterprises had with traditional SONET/SDH TDM-based networks. Operators gain the end-to-end capability to deliver superior Ethernet cost/performance backed by revenue-generating SLAs with customer-centric guarantees."
Available for immediate release are the EtherProbe 1006 for Ethernet-over-fiber connectivity and the EtherProbe 2108 products for Ethernet-over-copper-based T1/E1 circuits. The new EtherProbe products are the first EtherTone access devices carrying the integrated real-time performance monitoring capabilities. The EtherProbe 1006 is used in Ethernet-over-fiber applications supporting up to six 10/100/1000Base-T or GigE SFP connections and can monitor hundreds of flows. Flows can be defined as ports, VLANs, PBT tunnels, or as granular as EVCs within defined VLANs or PBT tunnels.
By evaluating link behavior nonintrusively while the actual traffic is running, EtherProbe provides carriers with actual rather than simulated data, without requiring additional special equipment such as remote test probes.
Enabled devices can proactively inform the service provider when network performance has degraded below predetermined customer SLA levels. EtherProbe can be configured to proactively provide alarms to the service provider and/or customer via customized threshold settings, or trigger a protection switchover to an alternate path in less than 50 msec. The system provides 24 hours of data storage within the NTE in 1-s intervals and can also be integrated with typical performance management tools such as element and network management systems either via standard SNMP or common data-export file formats for historical trending analyses.
The new EtherProbe 1006 and 2108 series for either fiber- or copper-based access networks are available immediately for new deployments. ANDA has an optional no-truck roll upgrade for existing EtherTone portfolio devices.
ANDA will be demonstrating EtherProbe at the Light Reading Ethernet Expo Europe 2009, May 13-14.
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